A Thanksgiving Invitation

Scripture — Ephesians 5:20 (NRSV)

[Be filled with the Spirit . . .] giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Devotion

I’d like to give you a Thanksgiving invitation. Of course, I can’t invite you to Thanksgiving dinner at my house because, well, my house is too small. Plus, my family and I won’t be there anyway. Once again this year we’ll spend the Thanksgiving holiday at Zion National Park in Utah. So, I can’t invite you to Thanksgiving dinner. But I can invite you to join me in an extended celebration of thanksgiving, culminating on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 28, 2024, in the U.S.).

About twenty years ago, it occurred to me that I really didn’t give thanks very much on Thanksgiving Day. Like most Americans, my time and energy on this holiday were invested in lots of personal and family traditions: watching the Macy’s parade on TV, traveling to be with my relatives, checking out a football game before dinner, enjoying a delicious turkey feast with all the trimmings, eating way too much pumpkin pie, helping to clean up the mess, and taking a groggy nap. Someone in my family always offered a prayer of thanks before the meal and in some years we all went around to say what we were thankful for. But actually giving intentional, extended thanks to God was not something that fit into my usual Thanksgiving agenda.

Though I loved my Thanksgiving traditions, it seemed that I was missing out on something special. I figured the season of Thanksgiving could be an occasion for thoughtful reflection on all the ways God had blessed me. It could be a time to offer thanks to God more deeply and fully than I usually did. So, somewhere in the early 2000s, I invented a couple of personal traditions that I have kept for the last 20 years. I’d like to invite you to join me in these traditions if you are so inclined.

First, I no longer think of Thanksgiving as only one day. Rather, I consider it to be a celebration that lasts for several days, often beginning in the third week of November. Now, let me be clear. I do not stuff myself with turkey and pie for two weeks. That wouldn’t be prudent! Rather, I try to pay attention to the gifts I am enjoying in the present moment, including such things as life, health, warmth, beauty, good smells, restful music, etc. Then I tell God “Thank you” for these gifts. Moreover, I listen to Thanksgiving-themed music, such as instrumental versions of songs like “We Gather Together,” “All Creatures of Our God and King,” and “Simple Gifts.”

Second, I’d like to invite you to join me in a simple practice that helps me do what I mentioned in the last paragraph: paying attention to God’s gifts in my life and thanking God for them. I’ve found it helpful to do these things intentionally, setting aside a few minutes at the end of the day to reflect on how God has blessed me during that day. I jot down these blessings and short prayers of gratitude in my journal. Nothing special. Nothing elaborate or lengthy. Just brief written prayers such as, “Lord, thank you for the soup Linda made for us today.” I try to note at least five good things from the day.

Now, I realize this practice can seem rather obvious and ordinary. Could it make much of a difference in your life if you were to adopt it? Yes, I believe it would, partly based on my own experience but mainly based on fascinating research by scholars who have studied gratitude extensively. For example, Dr. Robert Emmons and Dr. Michael McCullough published some of their research in a paper called, “Counting Blessings Versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life.” They gave different groups of people the assignment to write down specific things for which they were grateful or specific things that were burdensome. Then they measured the well-being of the participants in both groups over ten weeks. Emmons and McCullough found that those who had written down their gratitude experienced several distinctive emotional and interpersonal benefits not shared by those who recorded their burdens. This study is one of many that demonstrate the surprisingly beneficial impact of feeling and expressing gratitude regularly.

So there you have my two-part Thanksgiving invitation. Let these next two weeks be a special season of giving thanks. And make time each day to reflect on the good gifts of the day, thanking God for each of these gifts. If you do these things, God will be honored and you will benefit as well. May this be for you a wonderful season of thanksgiving!

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the High Calling archive, hosted by the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Should We Really Give Thanks for Everything?.